Child prostitution: reaching out to children who sell sex to survive

Abstract

Childhood prostitution is an area that most health-care workers do not come into direct contact with other than through media coverage. It is difficult to obtain a national picture of the scale of the problems associated with childhood prostitution as research has been sparse, fragmented and mainly localized Health and social care professionals need to be aware of the factors that influence routes into prostitution such as childhood abuse, poverty and breakdowns in family relationships if they are to provide relevant and appropriate health promotion interventions. This article explores the social economical and political issues surrounding childhood prostitution, and highlights come interesting initiatives which have been implemented by health and social care professionals.